


Jedi of the Dune Sea

by Wonderlandleighleigh



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, No they're not married here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24147064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonderlandleighleigh/pseuds/Wonderlandleighleigh
Summary: After squaring off with Darth Sidious, only to have the Sith Lord flee Coruscant, Anakin Skywalker travels to Tatooine in search of himself, and his path.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 14
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

The Dune Sea howls as sand whirls around Anakin Skywalker’s tall form.

When he was young and foolish and his powers in the Force were less honed, he complained about sand. But he’s older now; not much older, but it feels like he is. A war will do that. With age comes tolerance of things he cannot change.

Like Sand.

He squints at the enormous rock formation ahead of him, and the pull of the Force guides him toward it. He never thought he’d come to Tatooine again. After his mother’s death, he swore, never again. But with the end of the Clone Wars came a new yearning within him. A yearning to tame his inner demons and quiet his ghosts.

And that means three weeks under the twin suns, searching for inner calm.

When he’d told the Council of his decision to go, there’d been some trepidation to let him leave so soon after his confrontation with Palpetine.

“You had a heart attack, Skywalker,” Master Windu had reminded him. “Palpetine nearly killed you and you wanna go traipsing around the Galaxy to a backwater desert pit?” 

“I’m fine,” Anakin had assured them. “I don’t even need the cane anymore.”

“Palpetine is still out there,” Master Plo had added. “We will need your help if he attacks again sooner than we are prepared for.”

“Attack yet, he will not,” Yoda had assured the Council. “Go, Young Skywalker must. To find his true self. Come back to us, he will.”

With that blessing, Anakin had left. He would have liked for Obi-Wan to come with, but his old master was on Mandalore.

On “Business.”

Anakin smirks to himself as he nears the formation, and takes a deep breath. The Force hums in his ears, as if to let him know that he is where he is supposed to be.

He takes another deep breath, raising his hands and reaching out through the Force, and after a few moments a door opens, slow and dusty; beckoning him in.

“Here we go.”


	2. Chapter 2

The inside of the Temple is cool in a way that nowhere else on Tatooine is, and it makes him shiver a little.

The Temple itself is…strange. Old for certain, and Anakin notes four archways settled around a circular room as he moves into it from the narrow entrance.

The Force is still humming in his ears, and he should feel unnerved, he knows. Should feel like an intruder.

But Anakin Skywalker feels as if he’s being welcomed home.

He settles his gear by the entrance and sits cross-legged in the middle of the room. He closes his eyes, sinking into the Force and when he opens them again, he finds he is not alone.

“Welcome, brother.”

An old man stands before him. Leathery brown skin and kind brown eyes. Bald, and wearing dusty, lightweight Jedi robes.

Anakin stands. “Who are you?”

“I am the guardian of our temple,” the man explains. “I have wandered these halls a hundred years, keeping the desert crossroads safe.”

“Desert crossroads?” Anakin asks, looking confused.

The man nods. “The Jedi temple of the Dune Sea is where the Cosmic and the Living Force meet. It can show you every possible future. Everything that might be. Or might have been. Every path not taken. Every path yet to be forged.”

Anakin looks around at each door. “You…called me brother.”

The old man chuckles. “Of course I did. You’ve got sand creaking in your bones, just like all who have wandered here. A Desert Jedi. Child of the Dune Sea.”

“I hated it here,” Anakin tells them, and they both laugh softly.

“Maybe it’s not your home anymore,” the guardian concedes. “But it will always be where you are from. The twin suns smile down on you, brother. You’ve come looking for wisdom. Peace of mind.”

Anakin nods. “I have.”

“Then may the Force be with you,” the man smiles, gripping Anakin’s shoulder firmly.

The contact is like a jolt, and Anakin’s vision whites out. When it comes back, he is alone, still seated, cross-legged in the middle of the room.

And the doorway directly in front of him is lit up.


	3. Chapter 3

“Tatooine does not have the means to help fund your war!” 

It stuns Anakin Skywalker to no end to know that one of his possible selves is…this.

Freedom fighter. 

Senator. 

So full of fire and passion and determination. 

Such determination. 

“This is not just my war,” the Chancellor tells the young man sitting in front of him. “This is the galaxy’s war. It affects us all.” 

“We have only had our freedom from the Hutts for a handful of years,” the Senator explains. “We need infrastructure; schools. Healthcare. We have to work towards our own stability before anything else.” 

“You must understand, Senator Skywalker,” Obi-Wan Kenobi says, and Anakin looks to him. Nothing much is different about his master in this reality. Maybe a few less gray hairs…but still. “The Separatists will come to your world, if given the chance.” 

Senator Anakin Skywalker narrows his eyes. “My people know how to fight off enemies.”

“My boy, while I appreciate your position, your arrogance will get you and your people nowhere,” the Chancellor tells him. 

“Do not mistake my confidence for arrogance,” Skywalker says. “We know how to take care of ourselves when faced with enemy forces.” 

“He did cut off his own arm and choke Jabba the Hutt to death with a chain,” the Padawan next to Obi-Wan comments under her breath.

Anakin notices her as if she had just walked into the room. Had she been standing there the whole time? 

He gazes at Padme, this version of Padme, drinking in the sight of this woman that he has loved for so long, dressed in Jedi robes, her curls down around her face, a lightsaber on her belt. 

And he wonders what it would be like to feel her through the Force in that way that only Jedi can feel each other; to be close to her in that way. 

“Pay attention, Anakin.” 

It’s Obi-Wan’s voice, but the version of Obi-Wan in front of him hadn’t said it. When he turns, it’s to find his master standing there. 

He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. 

“I am a Guide of the crossroads,” the older-looking man says. “Here to help you along this leg of your journey.” 

Anakin nods at the Guide and takes a breath. “This…this could never be me. I could never be a politician.” 

The Guide chuckles. “If you’ll notice, the Senator isn’t quite like the politicians you’re used to.” 

Anakin frowns and looks to his other self again, taking in his appearance; his short cropped hair, his hooded wrap and black trousers and boots; his flesh hand wrapped in a fingerless glove while his mech hands gleams proudly under the office’s lighting, not hidden inside its own glove.

“He’s so…different,” Anakin notes. “Proud of who he is. Where he comes from.” 

“Shouldn’t he be?” the Guide asks. “Led a revolt that freed his people. Voted to the senate to represent them in the Republic. He has much to feel proud about, even if he doesn’t quite like politics.” 

“Some would say that your methods were too drastic,” the Chancellor says. 

“They’ve never known what it’s like to be bought and sold,” the Senator retorts quickly.

Anakin swallows hard. “Was I…meant to stay on Tatooine? To not go to the Temple with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon?” 

“There is no ‘meant to,’” the Guide says gently. “There is only the choices that have been made.” 

“But-“ 

“You have not been shown these events to shame you for yours, Anakin,” the Guide tells him. 

Anakin looks to the other version of himself again and takes a breath. He finds himself envious of this version of himself. He’s led a hard life to be sure, but he has led one that is obviously completely his own. Freed himself from slavery, freed his people. Ran off the Hutts. 

But has Anakin not done great things himself? Cared for and taught his Padawan the best he could. Led his troops compassionately and helped as many people as he could while working under the Jedi’s constraints. 

Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker has done much good. And can do so much more. Differently than Senator Anakin Skywalker. But just as well. 

“I must confer with my people,” Senator Skywalker says. “But I don’t think they’ll be keen on this war, and if the Separatists do come to Tatooine, they won’t last very long.” 

“Come,” the Guide tells him. “There is more to see.” 

Anakin hesitates before following him back of the archway, looking back for just a moment before the scene disappears into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an homage to the Gathering Fire AU, done by @ygrittebardots, with their permission. <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for burning alive.

When Anakin returns to the circular room, he is alone, and the next archway is lit up.

What he sees when he passes through is…

Unspeakable. 

As Obi-Wan stumbles away from the fight Anakin has just witnessed…carries Padme to safety, he watches another version of himself burn alive. 

The screams echo through the air, as do the sounds of Obi-Wan’s ship taking off. 

And Anakin has to admit. He’s never considered even the possibility of failing this far. This hard. 

With a shiver, he recalls Obi-Wan’s heartbroken words. 

_You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you."_

“Do not be afraid,” a familiar voice tells him, and when he looks down, Aksoka Tano is standing next to him. 

“Snips?” 

She grins. “I am your next Guide of the crossroads,” she says. “I take the form of a friendly, trusted face. Have I chosen well?” 

Anakin nods, swallowing. “Y-you have.” 

The Guide nods. “Nothing can hurt you here. This is a glimpse at another of many paths.” 

“Will I see them all?” he asks, looking at her.

“No,” she says. “To see them all would be to go mad. To see just a few is to know yourself in a way you did not before.” She sits next to him, gazing at the inflamed Anakin in front of them.

"I can feel his pain,” Anakin says. “His rage. He’s lost to the light.”

“No,” the Guide says gently. “Not completely. He just thinks he is.”

“I…don’t have that kind of rage. That kind of hate.”

“Don’t you?”

Anakin swallows. “I’ve never given into mine. Not…not completely. Not like this…what he did at the temple…to Padme. I don’t have the stomach.”

The Guide sighs softly. “To deny who you could be is normal when faced with the worst case scenario.”

He looks out at the burned flesh of his other self and takes a breath. He reaches out, stretching his feeling into the Force and to his other self, touching his mind. His heart. 

Everything feels burned…his soul hollowed out by fire and anger and Anakin jerks back, pulling away. 

It is him. While bereft of everything Anakin holds dear now, that presence is still his own. This could have happened to him. 

He feels bile churn in his guts at the thought.

“How did I avoid this?” he asks his Guide. 

“Chance,” the Guide shrugs and then grins a little. “Not everything is fate and destiny and the Force’s will. Some things are just…random. Chaotic. Some things just are.” 

“Will Padme live?” he asks. “Will her child?” 

“Your Padme lives,” the Guide reminds him. 

Anakin swallows hard. In his reality, she is his from afar. They did not marry. Padme isn’t pregnant. He loves her deeply, but acting on that could ruin them both.

But he reaches through the Force anyway, feeling her presence from across the Galaxy on Coruscant. Warm and busy as ever, and he takes comfort in that. 

“What will happen to him now?” 

“Your compassion does you credit,” the Guide tells him. “Most will label this Anakin Skywalker a monster.” 

“Isn’t he?” Anakin asks. 

“Yes,” the Guide agrees. “But you and I both know that does not mean he cannot be saved.” 

He nods. “Is there more to see here?” 

“One more thing to see,” she tells him. 

**** 

He is alone again when he opens his eyes in the circular room, moving slowly as he contemplates the fall of his other self, and his redemption through the love of his son. 

Short like Padme. Blued eyed and blond like he is. 

Anakin settles in the middle of the room again, and closes his eyes, hoping that the Force will help settle him. 

That could have been him. 

He could have-

It could have been him. 

A different decision here. A different mistake there. 

“It is rare for a desert Jedi to choose an easy path,” the Guardian’s voice says gently. “Those who come here do not expect easy answers, but yours are especially difficult to swallow, it seems.” 

Anakin gives a wry smirk without opening his eyes. “The High Council has been known to call me…troubled.” 

The guardian laughs, a hearty sound that bounces off the walls. “Well I guess they don’t run into our kind much all the way on Coruscant. Now, brother. You have seen what might have been. It is time to see what may still be.” 

Anakin opens his eyes and looks around, finding himself alone again. He takes a breath and gets to his feet, heading for the next archway.


	5. Chapter 5

“We…we did it.” 

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but one Anakin has known was a possibility for a long time now.

It’s a scene that’s played in his head over and over and over again. 

Obi-Wan is cradling the other Anakin in his arms, heartbreak written all over his face. What remains of Sheev Palpetine lays in a heap on the temple floor ahead of them.

“Yes, yes, we did,” Obi-Wan says, his voice shaky in a way that Anakin doesn’t remember ever hearing before. 

“Did I…” the other Anakin coughs, and it wracks his broken body. “Did I make you proud, Master?” 

“Yes,” Obi-Wan tells him. “Very proud, Anakin.” 

“I…I wish-” he breathes hard. “Wish I could stay…I’m sorry, Master.” 

“No, no apologies, Anakin,” Kenobi says quickly. “You’ve nothing- Everything is going to be alright.” 

The other man’s face contorts in pain and anguish. “I don’t want to leave you ‘lone…” 

“I will be fine,” Obi-Wan promises, tears brimming in his eyes. “And so will you. The Force will look after you now, little brother.” 

Anakin can feel his other self’s presence growing weaker…fading into the Force. 

“Obi-Wan…” he managed. “Tell…tell Padme….tell her she was always my Angel…” 

He stands there, watching himself die as Obi-Wan holds him close. 

It occurs to Anakin that no one else has thought about this; has considered that when Sidious shows up again, it will take everything the Chosen One has to defeat him. If they have, no one has said anything.

Maybe he’ll finally die. 

“Is that what you want?” 

It’s another guide, but that’s Padme’s voice and Anakin has to close his eyes against the feelings that well up inside of him at the sound of it.

“No,” he says, turning to face her.

“Is that a lie?” the Guide asks. 

He blows out a breath and looks back down at his other self’s body, cold and ghostly white; limp in Obi-Wan’s arms. “Sometimes.” 

“Anakin Skywalker,” the Guide says. “The great Jedi General. The Hero with no fear, who has fought and bled and killed for the galaxy. Who hatched a dangerous plan to weed out a Sith Lord in the Galactic Senate.” 

Anakin huffs out a wry laugh. 

“Anakin Skywalker who is still that dusty little slave boy from nowhere special who loved to make things and take care of his mother,” the Guide finishes. 

Silence blankets them as he says nothing. 

“You became who you had to be. To become a Jedi. To fight a war. But there is nothing wrong with wanting to be that dusty little boy,” She looks up at him and smiles. “Maybe if you find him again, you won’t want to die so often.” 

Anakin gazes at her for a long moment before turning back to find that his other self has faded away, leaving Obi-Wan nothing but an outer robe to cling to. 

Feeling his master’s pain is difficult and he squeezes his eyes shut against it. When he opens them again, he’s back in the circular room, his own tears dampening his cheeks. 

He looks up when the Temple Guardian settles on his knees in front of him. 

Anakin wipes his eyes with a sleeve and takes a breath. “What happened to the Jedi who were here? Why is there no one besides you?” 

The Guardian looks sad, suddenly. “Dead, mostly. Some just…left.” 

“Why?” 

“You know,” the Guardian says. “Most of the Jedi here were like you. They used to be slaves, but were set free to become Jedi here. And for a while, they were content to learn the ways of the Force…live by the Jedi code…” 

“But?” 

“But…the code turned out to be just another slavemaster. Something else telling them how to act. How to think. What they could and could not do.” 

Anakin looks away.

“Many fell to the Dark Side,” the Guardian goes on. “They killed each other in some cases, blinded by rage and the fear of being enslaved once more. Some just…decided to go. They left their lightsabers behind and we never saw them again.” 

“Because of the code.” 

“They weren’t allowed to love,” the Guardian explains. “For people who had been told all their lives that they weren’t allowed to be people. To own land. To get married. To hold real jobs. It was just too much.” 

“But…but then why haven’t I gone to the Dark Side?” Anakin asks, looking confused. 

“Because you do not follow the code,” the Guardian says with an amused look on his face. 

“Yes…yes I do,” Anakin says quickly. “I…I do. I…” 

The Guardian chuckles softly. “My brother, you may not admit to breaking the code, but you love deeply. I sense it as clear as day. The guides of other Jedi who have come here are strangers to them. People they don’t remember ever meeting before. But you…your guides take the form of those you love most. Your master. Your Padawan. The woman you adore. Each time you support them…save their lives…think fondly on them. You are giving into attachment.” 

Anakin swallows. “Then I have failed as a Jedi.” 

“Have you?” the Guardian asks. “It seems to me that you’ve done quite well as a Jedi. You just cannot bear to be a slave again.” 

“But I want so much more than I have…the Council’s respect…my Master’s approval…my Padawan back…Padme…how can I possibly continue to be Jedi when i can’t help craving these things?”

The Guardian smiles kindly. “The difference between Darkness and Light is simple: the Dark Side craves those things and then takes them. No matter the cost. No matter what evil they have to commit to get them.”

“And the Light?”

“Asks for what they want. Accepts it when they’re told no. And then tries to earn a yes.”

Anakin thinks about that; about how balanced and simple it seems. 

“No feeling is final, until your last breath,” the Guardian says gently. “And you don’t have to suffer the way our brothers and sisters did. Freedom is not beyond your reach. But what that looks like is entirely up to you.”

Anakin closes his eyes, letting the words settle in his belly. 

When he opens them again, the Guardian is gone, and the last door is lit up.


	6. Chapter 6

He stands in front of the doorway, but doesn’t move. 

He can hear voices echoing from inside. Laughter and even some singing. 

“Why do you hesitate?”

The voice behind him makes his blood freeze, and he squeezes his eyes shut. 

His mother’s voice. Last heard on Mortis when the Son was trying to seduce him to the Dark Side. 

It takes Anakin a moment to find his own voice, and even when he does, he’s interrupted by the echoes from the last doorway.

 _“Happy bornday, Mama,”_ a twin pair of young voices say. 

He hears his own voice. Happy. Calm. Full of love. _“Happy bornday, Angel.”_

Padme’s voice filters through. _“You’ve all gone to too much trouble. All these gifts, and this cake!”_

Anakin closes his eyes again. “I want it too much.”

The Guide stands next to him. “It is what you want most. What you don’t wish to admit could be a possibility.”

“It isn’t.”

“The Force, it seems, feels differently." 

“The Force can feel what it wants,” Anakin snaps, turning to the Guide. “That won’t change how the Council feels about the code. Or me.” 

“You?” 

Anakin shakes his head. “You shouldn’t be wearing her face.” 

The Guide tilts her head. “How does the Council feel about you?” 

“I am their weapon,” he tells her. “Their Chosen One. Their General. Something used to fight wars. To sacrifice for the greater good.” 

“Is that how they feel about you?” the Guide asks. “Or is that how you feel about you?”

Anakin doesn’t respond, gazing silently at the doorway. 

“Healing,” the Guide tells him gently. “Does not start with other people. But with yourself. That is why you have come here. It will take strength to go through this last doorway. To admit what you want and who you want to be. To admit that the ways of your teachers have not necessarily failed you, but are no longer a path you can stay on.” 

He swallows and takes a step forward. 

“There are more than two paths, Anakin Skywalker. Just because you cannot follow the old ways of the Jedi, does not mean you have to fall to Darkness.” 

Anakin takes a deep, slow breath, and steps through.

***** 

It’s Naboo. And it’s sunny, and he smells flowers in the air, as he always has.

A gaggle of children are playing tag, chasing each other around, giggling and shrieking as they run around, and Anakin squints as he spots a pair of adults not so far off, keeping an eye on things.

“You waited too long to come through the door,” the Guide tells him softly. “Time has marched on.” 

He frowns as he watches the pair; a man and a woman, both a little older, the man gripping a cane, both of them smiling at each other. 

"Why did we agree to having all of the grandkids here for the whole summer?” The man asks. 

“Because their parents need a break,” the woman explains. “And you love it.”

The man grins and pulls her closer. “I might.” 

“Says the man who made new toys for each of them,” the woman - it’s Padme, he realizes. Though her hair is going gray and her face has aged, her smile is the same - giggles. “You big softly.” 

“I’ll have you know I am Jedi Master General Skywalker, man without fear,” the man (who is absolutely an older version of himself) chuckles. 

“You fainted when you saw baby poop for the first time,” Padme teases. 

“I did not,” the older Anakin defends himself. 

“That’s not what Sabe says.” 

“Why is Sabe always trying to make me look bad?” 

Anakin watches as Padme reaches up, kissing his older self tenderly, and he feels his own shoulders slump. 

“As the Guardian said,” the Guide tells him. “What freedom - what your life - looks like, is entirely up to you.” 

When he blinks, he’s back in the circular room, and the Guide is gone. 

He is alone, and all is silent, apart from the echo of his own breathing.


	7. Chapter 7

Anakin supposes he can just leave. He has been through each of the doors, spoken with each guide…but…

But the Force is telling him he should stay.

So he stays.

He settles back onto the stone and sand floor and he meditates on what he has seen here. What it all means. 

Should he leave the order? 

Should he try to change it from within? 

Should he tell the Council that he’s still going to be a Jedi, but he won’t follow their rules anymore? 

_What freedom looks like is up to you._

Has Anakin Skywalker ever been truly free? 

He went from being Gardula’s slave, to Watto’s slave to being a Jedi Padawan learner under Obi-Wan. He’d never been on his own before. Never really let himself guide his own actions, though he’d chosen to become a Jedi. 

But the choice between leaving Tatooine and staying there as a slave wasn’t really a choice at all. He’d thought that before, when he was younger, though he now realizes that was Palpetine’s meddling. He had eventually decided to stay with the Order, thanks to Obi-Wan’s influence, but those thoughts have continued to linger through the years. 

When Anakin opens his eyes again, he is not alone.

Or perhaps he is. But with himself.

Sitting in front of him is a tanned little blond boy with freckles and blue eyes, gazing at him curiously. 

“Hello, Ani,” he says to the little boy. 

“Hi, Anakin,” the little boy says. “Welcome home.” 

“Well, it’s not really home anymore,” Anakin tells him. 

The little boy rolls his eyes. “Sure it’s not.” 

Anakin chuckles softly. “You’ve come a long way from Watto’s junkshop.” 

“Have we seen all the stars yet?” Ani asks, tilting his head at his older self. 

“Not all,” Anakin admits. “Lots. Lots and lots. But not all.” 

Ani nods, looking thoughtful. “DId we ever see Padme again?” 

Anakin smiles sadly. “Yes. Plenty of times.” 

“Good. She makes us happy.” 

Anakin nods and swallows, staring at the little boy. “I’m sorry about Mom.” 

Ani looks equally sad. “But that wasn’t our fault. You know that, right? That that was something bad that happened to her that we couldn’t stop?”

“Yes,” Anakin agrees. “But we’ve learned much since then. We’ve learned control. We’ve learned temperance.” 

Ani frowns. “But we’re not very happy.” 

Anakin takes a breath. “No. I suppose we’re not. But Jedi are supposed to focus on making the galaxy a better place. That is where they are supposed to get happiness from.” 

“But if they’re not happy in the first place, how can they make the galaxy happier? Better? Don’t they need to be happy first?” Ani asks. 

“I wish I had the answers,” Anakin admits. “But I fear I’m just as confused now as when I first stepped into this place.” 

“I don’t think that’s true,” Ani says. “I just think you don’t want to do what you wanna do because you don’t wanna rock the boat anymore than you already have.” 

Anakin snorts. “What do you know about boats? You live on a sand planet.” 

“I’m you, dummy,” Ani tells him with a wrinkled nose. 

Anakin stares at his younger self and nods slowly. “That’s a good point.” He gazes at his younger self and sighs. “So. You think we should rock that boat.”

“We already do,” Ani shrugs. “What’s a little more? You know, if you listen to me, I’ve actually got a ton of good points,” Ani grins widely. “But you don’t listen to me much anymore, cuz I wasn’t a Jedi like you, and we keep thinking the Jedi have all the answers.” 

“They don’t,” Anakin acknowledges. “Not all of them.” 

“But maybe I have the ones that they don’t have,” Ani goes on. “Maybe Mom did, too.” 

Anakin swallows and looks away. 

“You should be more sorry about the Tuscans,” Ani tells him. “Mom wasn’t our fault. But the killing…” 

“Yes,” Anakin agrees. “That was on us.” 

“No more of that, okay?” Ani asks. “That was bad.” 

“I promise,” Anakin tells him. “No more of that.” 

Ani holds out his hand, pinkie jutting out, and Anakin grins sadly as he hooks his pinkie with his younger self’s in a swear. 

When they touch, a bright light fills the Temple, and when it clears moments later, Anakin is alone again.

It’s time to go.


	8. Chapter 8

He settles down overnight in the desert, building a small fire and feeding the bantha he’d been riding, and then himself. 

The night is clear, thankfully, the stars litter the sky above him and the cool night wind dries the sweat of the day. 

Anakin Skywalker pulls his robes closer and takes a breath. “You know, Bertha,” he says, having named his bantha companion when he’d first bought her in Mos Espa. “I am proud to be a Jedi. But it’s a confusing identity to have some days.” 

He pauses as he takes a bite from his ration bar. “Most days.” He settles back, gazing at the fire. 

“It’s only as confusing as you make it, Ani.” 

He narrows his eyes at the new voice, looking up from the fire to find a kind-faced man settled on the other side of it, his Jedi robes, long hair and beard glow an otherworldly blue. 

“Master Qui-Gon?” Anakin asks, sitting up quickly. 

“Hello, Ani. It’s been a long time.” 

“Yes. How are you-” 

Qui-Gon waves a hand and chuckles. “An explanation for another time. I am here to talk about you. You’ve just come from the Temple of the Dune Sea.” 

Anakin nods. “I have. It was…enlightening. And confusing. All at once. I’m still not certain of my path. Every ghost and vision told me that I already know. That it’s inside me, but I just don’t feel certain.” 

“Hm,” Qui-Gon muses with a nod. “Our path is not always lit up with bright signs. Sometimes, we have to listen hard, and look even harder for the right way.”

“What do you think I should do?” Anakin asks. 

“Oh, it hardly matters what I think,” Qui-Gon chuckles kindly. “I’m dead, after all.” He pauses and gazes at Anakin gently. “But since you asked, what I think…is that you made the choice to leave a life of slavery to be become a Jedi. You were young, and you didn’t know that the path of the Jedi would be just as difficult, if not more so in different ways. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t predict just how stifling it would be for you; that instead of being physically enslaved, your mind and heart would be instead.” 

Anakin looks down, poking at the fire with a small stick he’d found. “You think I should leave the Order.” 

“No,” Qui-Gon says softly. “I think you should be the Jedi you want to be, whatever that may look like. And you’re not the first person I’ve said that to.” 

“Obi-Wan,” Anakin grins just a little. 

Qui-Gon chuckles again. “Yes. Obi-Wan. Your former master has spent his life striving to be everything the Council wants him to be, and he encouraged you to do the same, without understanding that for some people, it just isn’t possible. It doesn’t work. And there’s nothing wrong with that.” 

Anakin looks up at him again. “Sometimes it feels like they act like it’s a sin. Not to be what they think a Jedi is.” 

“A Jedi is…can be… so many things,” Qui-Gon tells him. “A Jedi who is not true to himself, however…often turns to the Dark Side.” 

Anakin swallows hard, closing his eyes. “Palpetine wanted that for me. Has been grooming me for a decade to be a Sith. To stand by his side.” 

“There is a reason that Sith take new names. It is because they become something that they never were. And yet, here you are,” Qui-Gon smiles. “In your dusty brown Jedi robes, wandering around Tatooine, to find out who you really are. Who you are meant to be. If that isn’t Jedi-like behavior, I don’t know what is.”

“Before all of this came to light, I always thought I knew who I was.” 

“Sometimes it’s nice to be proven wrong,” Qui-Gon comments. “To be right about everything is to be deeply bored.” 

Anakin has to laugh a little at that.

“You are a Jedi, Ani,” Qui-Gon tells him. “You’re just not the Jedi everyone wants you to be. Once you own that, you will be much happier. You may never be invited onto the Council, and they may take their sweet time in making you Master, but you will be you. And that is the most important thing. That is enough, and it always has been. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.” 

He stays quiet, his eyes trained back onto the fire, thinking of everything he’s been through in this month. Wandering around Tatooine, searching for and finally finding the Temple. Shown so many things; so many possibilities. 

“What freedom looks like is up to me,” Anakin says quietly. 

“Indeed,” Qui-Gon agrees. “And it may not look the same for the other people in your life.” 

Anakin stares at him, taking in his serene face. “Were you happy, Master? When you were alive?” 

“Very much so,” Qui-Gon tells him. “I am saddened that I died before completing Obi-Wan’s training; before starting yours. But my life was a happy one. I made it that way.” 

“And if my well-being requires me to break the code and disappoint the Council…to leave behind a few of the harsher rules…?” 

“Then the code and the Council be damned,” Qui-Gon says simply. “Force knows I didn’t follow it to the letter, and I was the happiest Jedi I knew.” 

Anakin laughs a little again. 

Qui-Gon smiles at him again; that same reassuring, kind smile that Anakin remembers from all those years ago.

“Be well, Ani,” the other Jedi says. “We will meet again one day.” 

“Thank you, Master,” Anakin tells him, watching him as the older man fades, letting himself shed a couple of tears for his grand-Master. “Thank you.”


	9. Chapter 9

He’d meant to leave Tatooine. To board his ship, and go back to Coruscant. Back to the Order and back to helping clean up the war.

But…

Well…

_What freedom looks like is up to you._

Freedom, to Anakin Skywalker, looks like a slaver’s palace engulfed in flames.

Not that Anakin himself set it on fire. He just freed all the slaves inside, and they decided what should be done. 

“Word is coming in from Mos Espa and Mos Eisley,” one of the former slaves says, typing away on a datapad stolen from one of Jabba’s guards. “The slave revolts have spread there as well.” 

“Then that’s where we go next,” Anakin nods, as he lifts one of the youngest slaves - a tiny Twi’lek girl - into his arms. “And we don’t stop until these former masters understand who is now in charge here on Tatooine.” 

The people around him - sixty or so former slaves - cheer. 

And they walk. 

***** 

When they get to Mos Espa, it’s in chaos, and everyone dives in, helping to fend off slave masters. Anakin sets the little girl down somewhere safe, and walks around, seeing where he’s needed; where he can do the most good.

Anakin rounds a corner and stops, spotting a young mother with her son, cowering in an alley, as Watto looms over them in the air. 

It’s a familiar scene, but Anakin is used to being on the other side of it; used to seeing the way Watto looms, a hand raised to strike.

He ignites his lightsaber, but doesn’t move. 

“Eh?” Watto jerks around to face him, and his expression from wrathful to worried. “A-Ani…? Ani...what...what are you doing here?” 

“Freeing slaves,” Anakin says simply. He looks past his old slavemaster to the woman and her son. “Go find cover.” 

The woman struggles shakily to her feet, hoisting the little boy into her arms and running. 

Watto snarls. “Those were my slaves, boy! Bought and paid for. You don’t have the right to free my property.” 

“Watto,” Anakin says calmly. “Listen to me very, very carefully.” He slowly steps closer, lightsaber raised. 

The Toydarian floats back, looking alarmed. 

“I want you to repeat after me,” Anakin goes on. “If you don’t...if you argue with me, or try to weasel out of this, I’m going to slice your whole head clean off those tiny little shoulders.” 

Watto stares, his eyes wide with fear. 

“People,” Anakin says slowly. “Are not property.” 

Watto growls. 

“Slavery,” Anakin says, just as slowly as before. “Is bad.” 

“Ani…” 

“I will never own slaves again.” 

Watto struggles, as Anakin follows him as he backs himself against the wall the woman and her son had previously occupied, lightsaber raised to the old Toydarian’s throat. 

“Fine!” Watto cries. “Fine! People...People are not property! Slavery is...is...bad! And I will never own slaves again!” 

Anakin grins and extinguishes his blade. “There. Was that so hard?” 

Watto wheezes, grasping at his own throat in gratitude. 

“If I ever find out that you’ve bought another slave,” Anakin tells him. “I will come back here. For you. Do you understand?” 

Watto is off like a shot then, flying away as quickly as he can.

“This is quite the show.” 

Anakin grins and turns, finding Obi-Wan Kenobi standing behind him. “Pretty good, huh?” 

“You should not have done this,” Obi-Wan tells him. “When you told the Council you were coming here, you said it was to find yourself.” 

“I have,” Anakin says simply. “I went to the Jedi Temple in the Dune Sea, and the Temple Guard asked what Freedom looks like to me.” He shrugs. “It looks like this. It looks like freeing slaves. It looks like showing slave masters that their kind are no longer welcome in this galaxy.” 

“It’s a noble cause, Anakin, but-” 

“But what?” Anakin asks. “But this is not what Jedi do? But this was personal? It should be. On both counts.” 

Obi-Wan sighs softly and crosses his arms. “Perhaps. Are you going to help me prevent the former slaves from burning their former masters at the stake?” 

Anakin thinks about that for a moment, 

“Anakin.” 

“Fine. But I’m not gonna be nice about it.” 

***** 

After they help to get things settled between the freed slaves and the local Mos Espa Council, they wander off into the desert, setting up a fire to help them keep warm, and Anakin cooks up some of the dehydrated stew in his pack for them, using some water from Obi-Wan’s cantine in the little pan over the fire.   
As they eat, Obi-Wan watches his former apprentice carefully. The younger man is tanned deeply, in a way that Obi-Wan has never seen. There is sand in his hair, and dirt under his fingernails. 

“How was Mandalore?” Anakin asks casually.

Obi-Wan turns just slightly red, looking down at his food. "Fine."

"More than just fine," Anakin smiles as he chews. 

“We are not here to talk about me,” Obi-Wan says pointedly. “We are here to talk about you, and your actions here. What spurred them on?” 

“What do you mean?” Anakin asks, looking at him quizzically. 

“The slave revolt? Getting involved in local politics?” 

Anakin shakes his head in disbelief. “I’ve always been this person, Master. I always said I would come back here and free the slaves.” 

“When you were a child,” Obi-Wan points out. “You grew out of that.” 

“There’s no growing out of wanting freedom for your people,” Anakin snaps. “And just because I let you and the Council dictate my actions, doesn’t mean my feelings on the subject ever changed.” 

Obi-Wan goes quiet, staring at him. 

Anakin blows out a breath, calming down. “There’s a Jedi temple in the Dune Sea. Former slaves, who were Jedi.” 

“You found more Jedi?” Obi-Wan asks, surprised.

“Their ghosts,” Anakin says. “It turns out that when former slaves try to strictly follow the Jedi code, they mostly go insane and turn to the Dark Side.” 

Obi-Wan’s expression saddens as he watches his former Padawan. He thinks back on all of Anakin’s difficulties over the years; on his inability to let go of his attachments. 

“After this experience, I don’t know if I can be the kind of Jedi that’s expected of me,” Anakin goes on. “And if I can’t be the kind of Jedi the Council expects, I may have to leave the order.” 

“Do you want to leave the order?” Obi-Wan asks. 

“No,” Anakin admits. “But...but if the Council doesn’t...can’t..accept what I need to keep my sanity, then I’ll have to leave.” 

“Perhaps we can go to the Council together,” Obi-Wan offers. “Talk to them about what you’ve learned here.” 

Anakin snorts softly. “Well, they certainly listen to you more than they listen to me. And now I truly understand why. I’ll never be like them, or like you. I’ll always be different, and I finally know that that isn’t a bad thing. It just is.” 

“It’s also why the Chancellor was trying to manipulate you,” Obi-Wan says, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “He saw those differences and tried to use them against us.” 

“Then it’s lucky that I let him give me a seizure instead of turning to the Dark Side,” Anakin teases lightly. 

Obi-Wan narrows his eyes. “You joke, but you scared me half to death. I thought we’d lost you.” 

“Is that attachment I hear in your voice, Master?” 

“Eat your dinner.”


End file.
